Harry did not have the best relationship with the press. In the wizarding world, Harry had been the victim of a deranged double standard. Against his own will, he'd been held up as some sort of savior for something he couldn't even remember, and then was faced with a backlash when the press treated him as if he had that high an opinion of himself. That was before the ministry had gotten him and slandered him to avoid admitting Voldemort had returned. He'd been a hero, a liar, a psychopath, the world's only hope, and tabloid fodder- he'd been idolized, objectified, and used in every which way. Even putting aside Rita Skeeter, Harry was inclined to loathe journalists and reporters.
Yet none of that baggage existed here. No one knew or cared about what happened when he was a baby. No one knew he was 'the chosen one' or had those expectations of him. He was a hero, a superhero, but he was one among several. It made his first impromptu press conference far easier to deal with than any of his earlier encounters with the press. It hadn't been so much of a press conference as running into a few haggard reporters while leaving the tower for cleanup duties. He didn't seem out of place next to the literal god of thunder, and Stark had a natural way of directing the spotlight onto himself.
They didn't push very hard. The reporters too seemed dead tired, and Tony already had a rapport with them, presumably from many media encounters in the past. He directed the conversation with ease as they walked along, turning it into an easy, friendly discussion. Most of the more general questions were fielded by Stark, and only a couple questions were directed Harry's way. Harry gave them the cover story he'd been operating under by Shield- that his parents had died when he was a child, that he discovered his abilities as a teenager until Shield had recruited him. It was vague, but accurate in the broad strokes. The follow up had been 'what exactly are your powers?'
Harry had responded with an enigmatic smile and said "Magic."
And that was how Harry, to his great consternation, got his name.
"You have to admit that it's catchy." Tony remarked "I mean, not as good as Iron Man, but really, this is good."
"Good?" Harry was skeptical, it seemed like a minor annoyance, if anything.
"Tell him, Pep." Tony prompted, and Pepper Pots, his… Girlfriend-slash-business partner sighed and stepped up to the plate.
"If this… Avengers team is going to be a recurring thing, public relations are going to be important. We want people to feel like they know everyone and like them. Coming up with a cute nickname for you is going to help with that."
"That reminds me." Tony snapped his fingers "We need to work on uniforms for you guys."
This received several skeptical looks "I'm good, thanks." Steve said.
"Wasn't talking about you." Tony dismissed "Come one, standard black Shield uniforms? So dull. You blend in!"
"Perhaps I like it that way." Natasha countered "I am, after all, a spy."
"Don't know about your long-term prospects in that field, Agent Romanoff." It was Hill, just walking into the room. She had become the team's unofficial liaison. Coulson had put together a team of rookie agents of his own and was currently out in the streets helping with the recovery.
Natasha shot her a concerned look, but Tony backed Hill up. "Yeah, if you were hoping to be able to stay in the shadows, maybe consider not saving the world from an alien invasion." With a motion of his hand, he brough up a series of images and videos onto a holographic projected- amateur footage of the battle, news clips, text threads speculating about the heroes. Somehow, Natasha had already been identified as 'Black Widow', and Clint as 'Hawkeye'.
"We weren't exactly in the position to cover it up." Hill said apologetically "The fact is, all of you are now celebrities."
This was barely an irritation to Harry, who'd dealt with being a celebrity for much of his life. But Bruce and Nat were taking the news poorly. "This isn't going to end well for me." The scientist shook his head. "Sooner or later…" He threw his hand open.
Natasha, meanwhile, just seemed shellshocked. "I'm blown. Every cover I've ever had is blown." Harry put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she flinched away. He was disappointed, but perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised. They weren't there yet. They hadn't actually talked. He didn't notice her own, almost regretful expression as he focused on the discussion in the room.
Tony, perhaps noticing Natasha's ongoing existential crisis, changed targets. "Barton, I can't help but think you'd look good in purple."
"I look good in everything, Stark." Clint snarked back, but Tony was irrepressible.
"And you, Magic." He paused, evaluating "Pepper, what do you think?"
"Green, definitely." She said without missing a beat. "Brings out his eyes." Harry had initially been a little confused about how their dynamic was supposed to work, but now actually seeing them work together on something- even if that something was just winding him up- it was frightening. Tony Stark may have been a genius, but Pepper Potts was brilliant in her own right, and had talent for organization and efficiency that would have made Hermione envious.
"Excellent." Tony clapped his hands "Jarvis, apply that to the design I sketched up."
Up on the holographic screen, an image of Harry's potential new suit was pulled up. It certainly would make him look the part of a wizard, and was undoubtedly cooler looking that the rather antiquated robes of his world. "Reduce the cape a bit, don't want it hiding too much. Less over the shoulders. Make the suit a little more form fitting too." Pepper instructed, watching in real time as the image adjusted.
"Gotta give the ladies a little bit to look at." Tony winked.
"Also add some trim, make it pop. Silver would do." Pepper continued, and Harry's jaw dropped in horror.
"Oh no, absolutely not." Harry protested vehemently. "My parents would be rolling over in their graves if I was caught out in… that." Slytherin colors, really?
"I feel like I'm missing something, here." Banner said.
"Err, its kind of hard to explain." Harry scratched his head "You know how colleges have rivalries? It'd be like wearing the colors of the other school, except the other school was full of Nazis." There were several winces at the bluntness of Harry's metaphor.
"It's a shame." Nat remarked "I think they'd look great on you."
That instantly deflated Harry's sails. "Err, really?" He backtracked, and multiple people in the room snickered.
Harry did end up accepting the uniform.
-----
"Magic." Mordo frowned "Who is he? Is he one of ours?" The Battle of New York had sent shivers through the mystic orders. They'd long been protecting the Earth from threats, but this could only be a sign of things to come.
The Ancient One held up a hand. The implications of a Sorcerer going public would have been extreme, but this wasn't the case. She knew that Harry Potter wasn't one of them. "He doesn't practice magic as we do. He relies on an entirely different source, and method of channeling."
"How is that possible?"
There was a time where he, where many sorcerers, would have asked the same about what they did here, the Ancient One wryly noted. "The world of magic is far larger than our little corner of it."
"So what do we do?"
"For now? nothing."
She had known about Harry Potter before today. She had peered into the future many times, trying to sculpt events in such a way to avoid disaster. While there were many boons they could give him, being forced to figure things out for himself would do far more for his magic, and prepare him for what was to come. The artifacts they had in storage would be waiting for him when he was ready.
Mordo seemed surprised by her decision, but always deferential to her, he let it go. "When would you want to reach out to him?"
"You are assuming that it'll be me to do so." She replied enigmatically. At that moment Stephen Strange was working overtime in an ER that was overloaded in victims from the attack. His time would come soon enough.
-----
Tony Stark looked down at the city. While the top floor of Stark- no, Avengers Tower had been smashed up, it still gave the best view in the building.
"So how is the PR really going?" He'd heard Pepper's telltale footsteps behind him, and she seemed unsurprised to be addressed.
"Honestly, as good as could be expected." She said. "Everyone loves the Avengers, for now."
"For now." Tony agreed, still not turning to face her "Did you see my notes?"
"Yes, I did." Pepper answered unhelpfully.
Tony, knowing that she was being purposefully obtuse, finally turned to address her "And?"
"I have questions." She said.
"You always have questions."
"Tony…"
"Hey, its good! Sign of an active mind."
"The way you describe it… you're acting like this team working is life or death."
Tony considered how to respond. What words could he use to explain it to her, explain what he'd experienced. "Well, having an alien army drop down on us was kind of a wake up call." He finally settled on. "I don't know what's going to happen." He could imagine, though "But we need to be prepared."
Pepper nodded understandingly "To be honest, what you're describing in this is more than a simple team. You want bases, R&D, public relations, recruitment… this is an institution."
This gave Tony pause, as he thought over what she meant. He'd been up late last night, unable to sleep. To occupy his mind, he'd drafted the little document in Pepper's hands up. It hadn't been deeply thought out, just him brainstorming "What do you mean?"
"It's one thing to have a response team to deal with threats." Pepper said "That's what Shield wanted the Avengers to be. But you want it to be more than that."
He did. "You weren't there. You didn't see…" He bit his tongue. He didn't want to dwell on his brief journey through the portal. "We need more than that."
Pepper nodded, and with a fragile smile, pressed her lips to his. Perhaps she didn't fully understand how he saw things, but she was willing to go along with it for his sake. And at least fractionally, it put his mind at ease.
-----
Natasha and Harry finally got to properly talk the next day. She had again visited him the previous night, but they had immediately fallen into bed and fucked each other into a stupor.
To be fair to herself, she had a lot on her mind. The realization that her usefulness as a Shield agent had been fatally compromised had been… difficult for her. She could still work covert ops, but undercover was right out, she was too well known. Hill, in a one on one, had assured her that there would always be a place for her, she was one of Sheild's best agents and she'd just helped save the world, after all. Yet she couldn't help but feel… tarnished. She wasn't like the others. She wasn't a billionaire genius, a wizard, or a literal god. She was so very disposable and one of her ace cards had just been compromised.
That had been weighing on her mind, and was part of why she was so ready to banish her problems with Harry's cock. But morning came and she awoke with Harry's body pressed again her, and they fucked again. And finally, in the aftermath of that, she vowed that enough was enough. She set up lunch with him, in a communal area in the tower so they couldn't just fuck their way out of talking about their problems.
"So, it's a date?" Harry had said to her, making her heart melt unexpectedly.
Cursing herself for her weakness she had agreed "It's a date."
She was letting herself dream. Of making it work. A relationship between them, as partners, teammates, and lovers. Side by side in the battlefield and in the bedroom. Dreaming was dangerous, she'd never had the luxury of being a romantic, but she did it anyway.
Lunch, finally, went according to plan- aside from Clint noticing them and teasing the 'lovebirds'. They talked about the past, and she learned about his story. He told her things he hadn't told Shield. About a dark lord, the prophecy, and the terrible burden placed on his shoulders.
It was a dark heavy topic, and she could sympathize. If someone had asked her to talk about the Red Room… well, to put it simply, she wouldn't. So, she changed the topic to something that would have hopefully been lighter, his life before becoming a wizard.
The topic was not, in fact, lighter. Harry's wince at her question, put her on edge. He'd talked about the war sadly, with guilt and regret, but this… was shame. "Yeah, my relatives and I never got along very well."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." She said, reading between the lines with clarity. An indignant anger on his behalf blossoming in her chest. Of course the child who had been tossed into a war also grew up with abusive shitholes for guardians. Irrationally, she found herself wanting to strangle his guardians, and whichever negligent bastard had placed him with them.
"Yeah. It wasn't great." He shrugged "I always wanted a family, but they were never it."
Natasha's heart stilled "A family? Like… kids?" She finished in a small voice.
A goofy smile lit up Harry's face, communicating to her just how he felt about starting a family "I mean, eventually? Yeah." He looked away in contemplation "I suppose I have too much of a 'saving people thing' to ever really live the simple life. But someday, yeah, I'd like it. The house, the kids, all of it."
Her heart twisted and shriveled in her chest. She was sure he'd be wonderful at it. Being a husband, a father. Just like Clint was. Whichever woman he settled down with would be lucky.
But it could never be her. The Red Room had ensured that she would never be able to give him a family. Her instructors had drilled that into her head that she had no place in this world. The hope that she'd recklessly nurtured had been snatched away, and it tasted like ash in her mouth. "That sounds lovely. I hope you find it someday." She told him, making a decision. "Listen."
Harry regarded her intently, taking note of the seriousness in her tone. "We need to, clarify some things. About us."
"Yeah, absolutely." Harry nodded.
"I'm not interested in a romantic relationship." She said "With anyone, really. It's not you. I'm just not… built for it." Lie.
She'd instinctively slipped into the role she was playing. Because now she was playing a role, deceiving him... again. She hadn't anticipated how much it would hurt, however, to see his reaction. The disappointment in his eyes.
"Oh. Okay." He said, trying and failing miserably to appear unbothered. He wanted it, or at least wanted to try with her. Maybe if she explained her situation, he would reassure her that they could still make it work. But would he be happy, truly happy?
She had to do this.
"Its just, you know our lives. Jobs."
"Yeah, absolutely." Harry nodded, rallying. "It'd be mental. The two of us. So what about…" He stumbled "The sex."
At this point there really was no hiding how hopelessly attracted to him she was. She'd just convinced him that it was purely a physical attraction. She should probably cut that tie completely, give him the chance to look for someone else. "There's no point in saying I'm not attracted to you."
"You've made that abundantly clear. And, err, same." Harry responded, and damn her if her heart didn't flutter. Why did he have to be so cute?
"But well, after the battle, it was a pretty stressful situation for both of us."
"Yeah." Harry said, again trying to hide the dejection in his voice. He'd clearly caught on to the direction of the conversation.
"We're going to be coworkers now, probably better to not have… fraternization be a regular thing."
"Yeah." God, she felt like such a bitch. Just sinking the knife in and twisting it over and over, she wanted to give him something.
"Harry." She said, leaning forward to meet his beautiful, striking eyes "You are incredible. You'll find the right person for you. Someone who'll make you happy, you'll get that life, the house, the kids, the family. All of it. You deserve it."
"Thank you. I hope you'll find what you're looking for too."
She nodded. She wouldn't.